Former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies September 30, 2019 in Washington, DC. Bolton spoke on the topic of , “Navigating Geostrategic Flux in Asia: The United States and Korea.”
A federal judge for the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia on Monday dismissed former John Bolton deputy Dr. Charles Kupperman’s lawsuit against the House of Representatives, leading legal observers to demand, once again, that Bolton testify in the impeachment inquiry.
The judge found that the Kupperman lawsuit was moot given that the House withdrew a subpoena for Kupperman’s testimony in the impeachment probe, and given that there is “no reasonable possibility that the House will exercise its inherent contempt power against Dr. Kupperman.”
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon concluded his 14-page memorandum opinion with a flourish:
Have no doubt though, should the winds of political fortune shift and the House were to reissue a subpoena to Dr. Kupperman, he will face the same conflicting directives that precipitated this suit. If so, he will undoubtedly be right back before this Court seeking a solution to a Constitutional dilemma that has long-standing political consequences: balancing Congress’s well-established power to investigate with a President’s need to have a small group of national security advisors who have some form of immunity from compelled Congressional testimony. See Comm. on Judiciary v. Miers, 558 F. Supp. 2d 53, 101 (D.D.C. 2008). A dilemma, I might add, that I particularly appreciate having served on a number of occasions in both the Legislative and Executive branches. Fortunately, however, I need not strike that balance today! Dr. Kupperman’s claims are MOOT, and his case must therefore be DISMISSED.
